sion ofThe Point of View for My Work as an Author, he appended to it an
“Accompanying Note” that informs us: “Even as a little child I was told as
solemnlyaspossiblethat‘themob’spatuponChrist,eventhoughhehimself
was the Truth....Thisissomething I have preserved deep within my
heart....Christ, who was indeed the Truth, was spat upon. And even if I
weretoforgeteverything,Iwouldneverforget—justasIhavenotforgotten
it to this day—what was said to me as a child and the impression it made
upon that child.”
Of course we do not know with certainty whether the episode did in
fact take place in Søren’s childhood home, but there are more than a few
things that speak in its favor, and even as an adult, Kierkegaard could shud-
der when he looked into a shop window and suddenly came upon a picture
of the crucified Christ hanging amid a number of amateurish “Nuremberg
pictures” [inexpensive popular illustrations].
“Blasphemous Toying with What Is Holy”
On October 22, 1850, Kierkegaard was particularly ready and eager to call
upon Mynster. The day before, he had spoken with the bishop’s son-in-
law, Just Paulli, who had told him how upset the old bishop had been by
Practice in Christianity. “The book has made me very indignant,” Mynster
supposedly had said on entering the parlor, “it is blasphemous toying with
what is holy.” And when Paulli asked whether he might repeat these words
to Kierkegaard if he saw him, Mynster had replied, “Yes, and he will proba-
bly come up to see me sometime, so I will say it to him myself.” For a brief
instant, Kierkegaard was paralyzed by Paulli’s account of what had tran-
spired at the episcopal residence, but then he became almost giddy. Now
he no longer needed the pretext of seeking a position at the pastoral semi-
nary to call on Mynster, or for that matter to subject himself to Mynster’s
oddly farcical theatricality. No, he could go right in and request that he be
subjected to what his respect for an authority such as Mynster’s required—
that he be reprimanded.
So he called on Mynster the very next day. Over the years Kierkegaard
had become acquainted with the “virtuosity in aristocratic reserve” that the
bishop had perfected and had used in receiving him—only to snub him and
immediately send him packing. So Kierkegaard had formulated his words
in advance and was practically still reciting them to himself as he entered
Mynster’s house: “Pastor Paulli told me yesterday that as soon as you see
me you intend to reprimand me for my most recent book. I beg that you
regard it as yet another expression of the respect I have always shown you